


Giving His All

by Laura_Raptor



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Oral Sex, Picnics
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-30
Updated: 2015-01-30
Packaged: 2018-03-09 17:38:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3258551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laura_Raptor/pseuds/Laura_Raptor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The events of Just Say the Word and In Her Debt told from Cullen's perspective.</p>
<p>He wants to surprise her, and with some advice from Cassandra and Sera, he thinks he knows how. One is a little risky, the other is romantic, and he hopes his lover doesn't say no.</p>
<p>... Maker's breath!</p>
            </blockquote>





	Giving His All

This hadn’t gone exactly how he’d planned, but at least they were happening. 

The letter had arrived from Mia not two days before, and unlike most of his documents, he’d hid it away so that she would not find it. Cullen often found his lover looking at his letters when she thought he wasn’t looking, and this one was definitely one he didn’t want her seeing.

It wasn’t just the words that he needed to hide from her, at least for now. It was also the ring that she’d sent. It was just a trinket, really. Nothing fancy like their noble guests from Orlais wore so casually. A simple brass band that he wasn’t even sure would fit her finger, but at least it was something.

Beyond Mia, the only one who had any idea what he was planning was Cassandra. After a heated night between himself and the Inquisitor, she’d let it slip that Cassandra absolutely loved romance novels. An innocent remark, but it had given him an idea.

He’d gone to her two days earlier in hopes she had some… suggestions, as it were. No one ever seemed to bother them in the armory, and so he asked her to meet him there to talk.

“Is the withdrawal bothering you again?” the Seeker asked him, concern heavy on her face.

“No, sometimes, but no,” he told her, his voice barely above a whisper.

“Darkspawn, then?” she asked

Maker, he thought to himself as he watched her. She was even more focused on work than he tended to be.

“Nothing like that,” he stopped her. “It’s more… personal.”

It was then that she raised her eyebrow in suspicion. “What kind of personal?” she asked him.

“I know that you… and don’t ask how I know this… enjoy some of Varric’s more romantic books.”

“Who told?” she bellowed at him. 

So much for being quiet, he thought, but worked to calm her down. 

“It wasn’t Varric,” he promised her. “It was, and don’t tell her, the Inquisitor. She thought it was nice, I swear it.”

“I’ll kill her if she told anyone else,” Cassandra declared as she slammed her fist down on a table.

“I’m sure she didn’t,” he said in an effort to calm her. “It was a personal talk, just her and I. Now please, I need your help.”

“You said it’s not the lyrium,” she told him and he was about ready to snap.

“It’s not!” he said, but he could already feel the headache starting. He rubbed his neck to calm down, but it was too far gone. Sleep was the only thing that would help once it got too bad, but he wasn’t going to start this conversation all over again.

“Listen, I… I want to do something special for the Inquisitor,” he finally continued. “I thought maybe, since you read those books, you might have an idea or two on the matter. It’s not really my strong suit.”

“Oh,” was all Cassandra said for a moment, but finally she continued, “I wish you had of said that earlier.”

“I tried,” he grumbled through his headache. “Can you help me with this, then?”

“I… I might have an idea,” Cassandra said. “What are you thinking of?”

“I don’t know,” he said with a heavy sigh. “I just want to give her some time away from here, from all of this. So it’s just her and I, at least for a little while.”

“Take her on a picnic,” Cassandra said, and then she blushed. “I’ve always imagined a man taking me on a picnic. He’d lay his cloak on the ground and we’d eat something light and sweet together. And he’d let me lay my head in his lap and relax while he stroked my hair.”

Sudden embarrassment washed over her and her smile turned into a deep frown.

“Don’t tell anyone this, got it?” she snapped at him suddenly.

“I won’t,” he promised her. “And please, don’t tell her I asked you about it. But that sounds nice.”

“What sounds nice?” a familiar voice interrupted them. “You two having a secret tryst, are ya?”

“Maker, no,” Cullen said as he took a conscious step back from Cassandra.

“Can’t you tell this was a private conversation?” Cassandra asked as the elf slunk her way into the armory.

“So?” Sera asked. “Now it’s not so private, ya? And what sounds nice? You two sneaking around behind our Inquisitor’s back?”

“Us?” Cullen asked. “Maker, no! I just…”

“Just what?” Sera asked.

“If you must know,” Cullen said, his own embarrassment returning, “I was asking Cassandra for her advice. I want to treat the Inquisitor to something, well, something special.”

“Oh, like eating her out, ya?” Sera asked and in that moment, she completely lost both of them. It must have been obvious by their reactions, because she laughed and continued, “Come one, you’ve done it before, no? Put your mouth on her…. Oh Maker, you haven’t, have ya?”

Despite his earlier confusion, Cullen was starting to get the idea that Sera was going for. His own cheeks reddened at the thought and he wasn’t sure what to say to her then.

It wasn’t that the idea disgusted him. In fact, each time he kissed down her body, he had wanted to kiss her there. Something about the idea filled him with desire and he didn’t know why, he just knew he wanted to try it. 

He just hadn’t considered that she might actually enjoy it.

“Look, okay,” Sera said with a laugh. “I’ve done it lots, and well, it’s easy. I mean, it’s not, but… ugh, here, let me teach you.”

What followed was the most graphic, yet informative education Cullen had ever received on the subject. Sera was so detailed that he had started to believe that it was all some prank, that what she was suggesting would turn his lover away, yet it all made him want to do it even more.

When Sera was finally finish with her lecture, Cullen turned to Cassandra for her opinion. He’d expected her to run away, to stop Sera, or to tell them both that they were disgusting, but she only remained silent.

“Cassandra?” he asked her, hoping to discover if what Sera had said was all some terrible ruse.

“That sounds…” she whispered. “Wonderful.”

“I know, ya,” Sera said with a laugh. “You pull those moves on our Inquisitor, and she’ll be screaming your name through the keep. Trust me on this one.”

He’d wanted to try it that night in the baths. He’d gone to her, hoping to push her hips up on the steps and do just what Sera had instructed, but that damn Tevinter mage had interrupted him just as he was about to make his move.

In the end, it had been her to take control, to show him the pleasure he had wanted to give her, and while he enjoyed it, he couldn’t help but feel guilty about it and vowed that he would make it up to her.

The other portion, Cassandra’s suggestion, would come later, he decided. He wanted to make sure she was ready for what he was suggesting. Just thinking about it made his stomach turn in knots and he thought better to wait until he got the words out right.

But the decision was taken from him by those damn Orlesian nobles. He wanted to ask her, shabby ring and all, and when he had a chance to speak up and tell them just why she wouldn’t be marrying some snooty prince or duke, he’d frozen.

It was Josephine who came to their rescue, and in doing so, had asked his question for him. It wasn’t how he wanted it done, but at least she wouldn’t be marrying some cad from Val Royeaux.

And he got to see her in that dress.

One trial may have been out of the way, at least for the moment, but he was determined to try Sera’s suggestion. The idea of it should have sounded wrong, but as he carried his lover to her quarters, it was all he could think about.

“Just lie back,” he told her once he had tossed her on the bed. “If you don’t like it, just tell me and I’ll stop.”

She didn’t tell him to stop, though, and as his tongue found the silky lips of her sex, he could only wish he’d done this earlier. She tasted like nothing he’d ever known and using Sera’s suggestions, he had his lover screaming with pleasure in almost no time at all.

Cullen made his proposal real that night, at least for the first time. The ring was still locked in a drawer in his desk, and it wasn’t how he imagined doing it, but he needed to know that she wanted it too. With her answer, he could really breathe again, and in the morning, he would ask her right.

The nightmare that broke his sleep before dawn was a blessing, in its own way. For his plan to work, he needed to be up before the sun. Slowly, he slunk out of the Inquisitor’s bed and dressed in the uniform that laid scattered about her quarters.

Before he went to his quarters to dress and grab the ring, he made a stop in the kitchens. Despite the early hour, the women who worked there were up and making fresh bread, loaves of which he asked to be left by the great doors of the keep for him to take with him when they left.

The ring was still hidden away in his desk when he arrived. A simple thing, really, but it meant so much to him.

The sun was just starting to climb over the mountains when he returned to her quarters. She’d yet to stir, but with a gentle kiss he roused her.

“What’s wrong?” she asked, still half asleep. Even in slumber, she was the most beautiful creature he’d ever seen.

“Nothing,” he assured her. “Get dressed, I have a surprise for you.”

“If it’s anything like the surprise I got last night,” she said with a sly smile, “then you can surprise me all you want.”

There was a part of him that wanted to do just that, and watching her dress only made him want it more, but if they didn’t go know, they’d never get away. Either one of them or both would be distracted by some issue or question and before they knew it, the day would be gone. They had to leave now if they had any chance at all.

Quietly, they slipped across the keep and down to the stables where their horses were ready and waiting for them, along with the bundle of bread that the kitchen staff had prepared for them.

Despite his secrecy, she didn’t question him as he led their horses out of the keep. Her trust was unspoken, but it was there and he reveled in it. 

A solitary guard was the only one to see them off, sealing the gates shut behind him.

Only a fortnight prior had scouts found a hidden valley in the mountains, and it was the perfect place for what he was about to do. A half an hour’s ride, they made their way by the light of the rising sun and it wasn’t until he stopped that she finally spoke.

“Is this my surprise?” she asked with her eyebrow raised just slightly.

“Not quite,” Cullen said as he lifted himself off his horse and then moved to help her do the same.

“Oh?” she asked, but his answer came as he laid his cape out on the ground, just as Cassandra had suggested.

“Please, sit,” he instructed as he produced the bread and sat down with her.

“This is nice,” she told him as she nibbled at the bun in her hands. “It’s good to get away from… well… everything. This was a good idea.”

“I’m glad you think so,” he said. “But… there was something else…”

“Yes?” she asked as she leaned back on his cape.

“This… well… Maker’s breath,” he sighed heavy. “I had this all planned out, but last night, at dinner, well, I wasn’t able to do it how I want.”

“What isn’t how you want?” she asked him, but the sly smile on her lips indicated she knew what was happening.

“I, well, I guess I already asked you this,” he said as he rubbed the back of his neck. “But I want to make it special. And,” Cullen said as he reached into his pocket, “I wanted to give you this.”

He didn’t know if she’d like it, or if she’d even care about the trinket, but her reaction was nothing like he expected.

“Oh, Cullen,” she said, glistening tears in her eyes as she gently picked up the ring.

He didn’t think she’d cry. He didn’t want her to cry, but there it was and he was unsure what to do. Despite everything they’d been through, he’d never seen her cry before, and if not for the smile on her lips, he would have been really worried.

“Is that a yes?” he asked her.

“I already told you yes,” she laughed between tears.

“Not that,” he said as he took the ring back and readied it by her finger. “Will you wear it?”

Her smile softened then, and she nodded. “Yes,” she told him. “Always.”

With that, he slid the ring on her finger. By the Maker’s grace, the old thing fit like it was made for her and she kissed him hard and deep once he let her go.

“I have one more request,” Cullen said as they parted.

“Anything,” she told him, her tears still glistening on her cheeks.

“Lay down,” he said, and thankfully, she didn’t question him.

He was gentle as he guided her onto her back, and let her head come to a rest on his lap. While she rested, he stroked her soft hair and watched her as she drifted into an easy sleep.

**Author's Note:**

> I thought it would be fun to see Cullen's perspective on things! Enjoy!
> 
> And of course, if you like my stuff, I have a brand new novel out under the name Helena Shaw!


End file.
